Complexity Causes 50% of Product Returns

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2006-03-06T150309Z_01_L06746423_RTRUKOC_0_US-PRODUCTRETURNS.xml' target='_blank'>http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2006-03-06T150309Z_01_L06746423_RTRUKOC_0_US-PRODUCTRETURNS.xml</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Half of all malfunctioning products returned to stores by consumers are in full working order, but customers can't figure out how to operate the devices, a scientist said on Monday. Product complaints and returns are often caused by poor design, but companies frequently dismiss them as "nuisance calls", Elke den Ouden found in her thesis at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands."</i><br /><br />Perhaps they should read the directions! Unfortunately, many manuals are pretty poorly written. I doubt many companies hire a good technical writer to work on their manuals much the less try the manuals on a few consumers. Hopefully, companies will see this study and realize that an investment in this area might actually save them money on returns in the long run.

[Kacey Green]

Sometimes the manuals are good, but the consumer is lazy and refuses to read them. Or they throw the manual away with all the promotional garbage paper.

[Jason Dunn]

People don't tend to read manuals - the best a company can hope for is that their "Quick Start Card" will get read. Beyond that, they need to have a product that's intuitive and well-designed. Most are not, hence this problem.

[bluemax]

What manuals? I've bought software and devices that included very little in direction how to use them. Some even go so far as to direct the buyer to press the power button and follow the on screen prompts. That's all fine and good if it really goes into the new user routines. Sometimes it's easy to inadvertantly start the device while trying to get it into the charger and never see the initialization routines. Returned items are frequently past that point. Besides, initial setup aids don't really explain how to use the item.

Many tell you to read the online help which can quite literally be online and not available locally. Forget trying to figure out how to use it while sitting on a 4 hour flight.

Frequently paper manuals are so poorly written that no reasonable person can understand them.

I write manuals for a living. I know what a good manual looks like and I have found they are rare. Chinese companies should really find someone who understands English before they try to explain their equipment.

Bill B.

[Outlaw94]

I'm not surprised at this study. When was the last time you spent good hard earned money on a new and expensie toy to get a manual on CD-Rom in pdf format.

What companies will do to save a few bucks.